Cell phone

I lost my cell phone a few weeks back, one of the hazards of extensive travel. The rational decision would have been to run right out and get another phone. Everyone knows that no human being can survive for even five minutes without an internet equipped SmartPhone in immediate reach. But for some insane reason I decided to do the crazy thing, to take my life in my hands and not immediately find a replacement phone.

I still have my cell phone account, so if anyone leaves voice mail I can hear it. Yet I can also wander the city for literally hours at a time unencumbered by even the possibility of receiving a call, checking voice messages or reading email.

I cannot remember the last time I have felt such an exhilarating sense of freedom.

Oh yes, I know that at some point I will break down and get another phone. After all, it is unnatural for Homo Sapiens to walk around without an electronic umbilical cord. If humans were meant to be without cell phones, God wouldn’t have given us unbreakable service plans.

3 thoughts on “Cell phone”

  1. This is the same feeling I get when there’s a blackout. It is comfortingly calm without all the gadgets and gizmos whirring about.

  2. The same thing happened to me, mid December! My smartphone got stolen, and I felt this immediate freedom. It’s funny how the mere availability of technology/information can be stressful; the fact that you *can* have something makes you feel like you *have to have* it. Works with Oreos, too, I hear 😉

    It reminds me of this iPad review: http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2010/06/why-i-returned-my-ipad.html (He returned the iPad because it killed his creative boredom time.)

    I didn’t go all phone-less like you though. I still had my old old phone around that I use now. But then, almost nobody ever calls/texts me anyway, so it’s almost like having none 🙂

  3. Once I forced myself to go on a ‘real’ vacation, i.e. one without phone/computer/texting/emailing/social networking. Best vacation ever.

    Humans are interesting animals. We invented money then we became its slave. We invented gadgets then we got chained.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *